Democrat National Chair Howard Dean says Racism
Played Role is New Orleans Disaster

September 11th 2005

Howard Dean

Former Democrat Presidential candidate Howard Dean
told members of the National Baptist Convention of America on
Wednesday that race played a major role in the death toll from
hurricane Katrina. The National Baptist Convention is a black
religious group with roughly 3.5 million members in 3000 churches.

"We must … come to terms with the ugly truth that
skin color, age and economics played a deadly role in who survived
and who did not," Dean said. He made the comments to the Baptists’
Political and Social Justice Commission.

Dean went on to tell the
commission that Americans have a moral responsibility to not ignore
the devastating effects of damage caused by the hurricane when it
hit the Gulf Coast. "People are poor in different parts of the
country. They are not refugees. They are Americans," he said.

The former Presidential
candidate proposed we scuttle the estate tax breaks and the Senate
should channel the $760 billion savings into the relief according to
an south Florida NBC affiliate. "Shall we give that to the
wealthiest people in the country, or should we rebuild New Orleans?"
Dean said.

He recommended shifting funds from the war in Iraq
to reconstruct New Orleans. Dean also recommended exempting the
hurricane victims from the new stricter bankruptcy law changes.